The Tomb
by Lone Angel
Summary: Someone sends Hermione a book filled with magic along with a challenge. Will Hermione take the challenge? If yes, then will she win? If not..what are the consequences? *Not a one shot! This will be updated it will just take me some time.*


Hermione looked around the library to make sure no one was watching. When she was confident she had privacy she took a napkin from her pocket and leaned down to retrieved an old, dusty tomb from her bag and gingerly set it on the table in front of her. The book was covered in a layer of thick dust and there was a piece of the cover missing on the top right hand side. She could see that the first page was yellowed with age but could tell nothing else from looking at the closed book.

She had yet to open it because she did not know who had sent it to her. Earlier that day an odd looking owl had dropped a square package at her feet when she was on her way back from Care of Magical Creatures. Ron and Harry had gone ahead and so had not seen her retrieve it. After searching the wrapping for some kind of note the only thing she found was her name which was obviously the reason she had received it. She quickly unwrapped the top half to reveal the dusty tomb. Feeling some apprehension at not knowing who it had come from Hermione had decided to go to the one place she knew no one would bother her. The library.

Hermione removed her wand from her robes and, removing the rest of the wrapping, cast a revealing charm on it. When nothing happened she tried a few more spells of the like trying to detect if there was any harmful magic attached. After ten minutes she finally decided the book was void of any harmful magic and opened the book to the first page.

_Hermione,_

_I don't doubt you'll have this book in your possession for a while before you deem it safe enough to open. Although you have proven that this book has no harmful magic woven into it's pages, magic emanates from it none-the-less. _

Here Hermione quit reading and jumped back from the book, knocking her chair over in the process. She backed into a bookshelf and peered around her to double check that she wasn't being watched. Satisfied, she peered at the book once more and continued to read the first page.

_You'll find that as of now the book is empty except for this page. The following pages are blank and this is where I come in. I have the matching book to yours and when I write in my book the same writing will appear in yours. If you ever write in this book it will immediately appear in mine. I want to play a game of sorts. I know who you are but you don't know who I am. I will give you a clue as to my identity, one clue with every entry. If you can figure out who I am by the end of this school year you can ask anything of me and you shall have it. However, if you do not figure out who I am by the allotted time you have to agree to do the same. If you accept sign your name on the front of this book and let a drop of your blood fall on top. If you do not accept this book will vanish this time tomorrow. _

And upon reading the last word the book snapped shut and nothing Hermione did would open the cursed thing. Hermione did not know what to do. Of course the logical thing would be to throw it away and let it vanish in twenty four hours. But her curiosity got the best of her and she shoved it into her bag and walked back to her common room. She had missed dinner so she was going to read for a while before going to bed.

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Hermione awoke early the next morning. After taking a shower she picked up her book bag and went down to the common room. No one else appeared to be up yet so she plopped down on one of the many overstuffed sofas and reached in her bag to pull out Hogwarts: A History. Reaching in she felt the dusty tomb and pulled it out instead. Hermione sat there just staring at the book, trying to decide whether it was worth it or not to satisfy her curiosity. She didn't want to toot her own horn but she _was the cleverest witch of her age. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out who the mystery person was._

_But did she want to take the chance of loosing? What would the mysterious person ask of her? What if it was just some random nutcase who had heard of her only because she was Harry Potter's best friend? She would never be able to identify a complete stranger. _

_What if it was a Death Eater? She might be able to get information out of them. It would have to be someone pretty powerful who sent her this. The magic emanating from it felt immensely potent. And the blood magic that was attached…there was no telling whether the sender was telling the truth about the reason behind it not. It was probably just a trick. _

_Deciding that, yes, it was probably just a trick, Hermione put the book back in her bag and pulled out the one she wanted originally. She would just go on with her day and by the time the final bell rang in her double potions class the book would have disappeared on it's own and she wouldn't have to deal with it any longer. _


End file.
